MORNING IN SIENA AND DRIVE TO CERRETO SANNITA

In the morning we were up and out to find breakfast and see what we could of Siena. This airbnb had no fridge, coffeemaker or hot plate. Just two basement rooms. Our hosts were very friendly when we arrived but we didn’t see them again (they lived upstairs and had a separate entrance).

We headed in the direction of the Duomo which opened at 10:30 and St. Catherine of Siena’s home/sanctuaria. We passed a little place to get a cappuccino for Angie and an EGG sandwich with veggies/fromaggio for me! Refreshed, we followed the signs and soon found Il Duomo with its striped marble facade. We continued on to Sanctuary de Caterina. St. Catherine of Siena was from a family of cloth dyers. Around 16 or so she joined a lay order of religious and continued to live at home. When she was meditating one day, she received the stigmata (bleeding wounds in hands, feet and side like Jesus)

Piazza dell Campo in the sun! in Siena!

My favorite!! Gelato!!!!!

Anyway, even though she was pretty illiterate, she soon developed a following, feeding the poor of Siena, caring for them. She was able to develop a reputation and then acquaintances in high places of the time. She was able to convince the Pope to come back to Rome from Avignon. I’m sure there were miracles attributed to her but nothing was in English. I think that this Sanctuaria was in her family home but we saw little church, statue outside and then I went downstairs and there was another small chapel with large frescoes on the wall with scenes from her life. Her group wore white veils and black capes so she was easy to spot in the pictures.

I met Angie and Cathy outside and they decided to skip the Duomo and they went off. I got my ticket for just the Duomo and Librarie (which was right inside off the main transept. I sat near the line at the entrance in the shade (another tourist held our place in line!) with Alex and Barbara, two travelers from Australia. They had just come from visiting India so we chatted about that. They were very friendly as I find most Australians I’ve ever run into to be! When the queue started to form, our friend let us in in front of her and we were almost first into the Duomo. The floors are mostly covered (a couple of times a year I had read they are uncovered for all to see their beauty!. There were a couple of spots where we could see the carvings! Amazing!

Before the crowds increased I headed for the Librarie in a side room. There were very LARGE (so all the monks could read them from a distance) music books with gorgeous illumination around the edges! The time it must have taken for these mons in the Dark Ages to do this! But then, no TV, no internet, no travel, not much for distraction!! Beautiful room!

(RIGHT NOW CAN'T FIND MY SIENA PICTURES ON MY COMPUTER; WILL POST LATER WHEN I FIND THEM!! )

A lot of the Duomo was being worked on so about 1/2 of it was covered with screens. I had to take a photo of the screen with a PICTURE of the gorgeous pulpit (I could see through the glass panels underneath where the scaffolding was some of the features and carvings. 

By the time I left, the crowds and tour groups were gathering inside so I felt lucky to see it with so few tourists. I can’t imagine what Italy is like later in the more busy heavy tourist season. We keep running into so many school groups as well of all ages at the different sites we have visited. 

As I headed back to our airbnb, I ran into Angie and Cathy on the street. They had had a wonderful scrambled egg breakfast on Il Campo where we’d had wine the night before. We packed up and headed for the parking lot (E35 to park in a garage for the night!) Parking is an issue here as most of these towns like Florence, San Gimignano, Volterra, Siena - you can’t park or even drive inside the city center. You pay to park outside and walk in. Fortunately, we didn’t have far to roll our bags to our airbnb in Siena! I left my bag in the trunk and just took my backpack for the night! 

We set the Tom-Tom GPS for the metro station on the outskirts of Rome where we were going to pick up David. He had had an exam in the morning and then barely made the train from Bologna. Then he had to hop the metro for 5 stops but it all worked out. We had our first experience driving on the AutoStrada! Most of the time I felt like I was standing still!! I tried to keep in the right lane but if I had to pass a truck or bus or slow car, the other cars were on my bumper immediately!!! Very fast drivers!!! Talk about tail-gating!!!

It took about 2 hours to the metro stop and we waited maybe 1/2 an hour, taking a break with some fruit we’d brought (delicious cherries!!). David arrived and he became my copilot/navigator along with Tom-Tom. He’d had lots of experience driving in Italy but we didn’t pay the E20/day for an extra driver so I did all the driving. It was another 2+ hours towards Naples when we got off on much smaller roads to head to Angie’s parents home town, Cerrito Sannita - east of Naples. 

Angie’s father Michael was one of 12 children. The oldest, Giapetto - Pepino is what they call him - was left here back in the 50s on the farm, with the parents and younger sisters. Michael married Josephina, honeymooned in Capri - where Angie was conceived! - we’ll visit that later, we hope! - and headed off for a better life for future children in America - Waterbury, CT. Another brother I think emigrated to Australia and a couple more to America. Pepino, 89,  and Christina, 83, stayed in CS and had two children - Angela Marie Pelosi - our amazing, charming hostess here - she runs a school here - with her two children Marie Christina - both mom and daughter have amazing curly blondish hair and such similar personalities!! We visited their home in town where the elderly parents are cared for on the bottom floor and the family, including a son Fernando live upstairs. The daughter Maria Christina is studying law, and the son is studying biology at nearby university. 

Angela’s husband Vincenzo (VJ) took us to his office - he was a city official and, as we went in, we met the mayor and some cohorts. Angela seems to know EVERYONE in town and was constantly greeting people, as well as keeping an ongoing conversation with Angie (ALSO Angela Maria) her cousin! Turns out VJ and Angela came to CT for a month’s honeymoon back in the day and were hosted by Angie’s parents and Barry’s parents, as well as Angie and Barry, visiting New York city while they were here. Angie has not been to CS since she was 15 when her parents brought her and her sisters Linda and Rita for a visit to the grandparents’ farm. Today Angie and David will go off with Angela to visit the old farm and areas that she might recognize.

The other cousin is Nicola who is much quieter than her sister! He works as a hospital administrator and also runs marathons; he’s done 6! - most recently the New York one when he brought his wife and two girls - Maria Christina - 12 and her sister Nicole 10 - to New York and CT. 

With the two cousins and VJ we walked around town, visited the church where Angie’s father was baptized, and where her parents were married. There we met the local priest and inside in a small room saw this amazing Presipio (it’s a Nativity scene with all the figures from the old time CS on display around the Holy Family.) It was beautiful! 

CS is apparently known for hundreds of years for their beautiful ceramics. Later this afternoon, after David heads back on the train to Bologna to study for his finals next week, we will go shopping for ceramics. I might like to get some Presipio figurines to set out at Christmas!! I’ve heard of them before but never seen one!

We also visited another church, the Cathedral which means the Bishop is here (there are 7 churches in this tiny town!!!). A priest was there and handed us each a booklet (in Italian!) about a local priest who is up for sainthood. 

Then we stopped for aperativo - which is like drinks before dinner, at a local place where I tried a “spritz” recommended by David. It’s kind of a bright orange/red drink with some kind of liquor (aperol) in it. Along with it came peanuts, pizza slices, biscotti snacks. Nicola and VJ went to get cars as the plan was to go up the mountain to a restaurant for dinner, with more of the family. Nicola’s wife and two girls, as well as Fernando joined us up at a restaurant overlooking the whole valley with twinkling lights below! (it was already 9:30 or 10 by this time!! Past our usual bedtime on this trip! We didn’t finish eating and head home until after 11:30!! I have never in my LIFE eaten so late!! I was practically falling off the chair!! I was so tired!

We had all kinds of antipasto that just kept coming - including fresh cheese, with honey dripped on top! Then pizzas came - an asparagus/mushroom one, and one I had with tomatoes and basil that was delicious! AND THEN, the pasta dishes - homemade noodles with mushrooms and asparagus and a spaghetti with sauce. 

We were dropped off at our B & B and collapsed in bed in our room!! The next morning Angie was going off with Angela to see family sites and Cathy and I would have a morning of REST!!!